A completion assembly is oftentimes run into a wellbore before the wellbore begins producing hydrocarbon fluids from the surrounding formation. The completion assembly may include a base pipe and a screen disposed thereabout. The base pipe may have one or more openings formed radially therethrough. The openings may have nozzles disposed therein, each having an inner diameter from about 1.5 mm to about 4 mm. These openings with the nozzles disposed therein are referred to as inflow control devices (“ICDs”) and are designed to control the rate of the hydrocarbon fluids flowing into the base pipe and up to the surface.
Once the completion assembly is in place in the wellbore, an annulus between the completion assembly and the wellbore wall may be packed with gravel prior to producing the hydrocarbon fluids from the surrounding formation. To gravel pack the annulus, a gravel slurry is pumped from the surface down through the annulus. The gravel slurry includes a plurality of gravel particles dispersed in a carrier fluid. When the gravel slurry reaches the screen in the completion assembly, the carrier fluid flows radially-inward through the screen, leaving the gravel particles in the annulus to form a “gravel pack” around the screen. The carrier fluid then flows into the base pipe and up to the surface. As the gravel slurry may be pumped into the annulus at about 5-10 barrels per minute, the inflow control devices may not provide a large enough cross-sectional area for the carrier fluid to flow through to the base pipe.
To increase the cross-sectional area through which the carrier fluid may flow, one or more additional openings may be formed in the base pipe. The additional openings may be axially-offset from the screen and/or the ICDs. Once the gravel packing process is complete, the flowpath through annulus to the additional openings is obstructed to allow the ICDs to control the flow rate of the hydrocarbon fluids into the base pipe. The flow path may be obstructed by expanding a swellable elastomeric device disposed between the base pipe and a non-permeable housing positioned radially-outward therefrom. The elastomeric device may expand due to contact with a fluid for a predetermined time. The elastomeric devices, however, sometimes expand prematurely (i.e., before gravel packing is complete) due to contact with fluid during manufacture, transport, storage, or while being run into the wellbore. The elastomeric devices may also lose contact pressure during downhole temperature shifts or swell undesirably later in production.